"You prompt interesting discussions"
a fortune cookie from Chinese Garden, Newport, PA

Breaking the delicate sweet bread of life
my future is ordained and secured.
After a string of Karaoke boyfriends,
a cookie from Chuck's Chinese Diner on 4th Street says,
"You will soon meet the man you will marry".

I wave the slip of gleaming white paper
like a flag of rescue or surrender,
I never want to leave this table, the table
of my good fortune.

The waiter arrives, and asks in his Chinese-New York accent,
"More tea lady?"
He pours, and the tea flows with the scent
of orange blossoms and heaven.
He pours me another cup, and the another.

Permeated by the aroma of Chinese Duck
and Sweet and Sour Chicken, I finally decide to leave.
The waiter returns to clear my table, smiles and says,
"I bring you gift, Lady."

He hands me a box of Chinese Fortune Cookies,
"For you, Lady. One for each day. Please, my gift to you."
I accept it graciously, tip him generously, and drive away.

At home, the ticking clock
reminds me how quickly time is passing,
and I open a cookie. To my surprise it says,
"You will soon meet the man you will marry."
I open another, and another and each one says,
"You will soon meet the man you will marry".